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'Slot machine sounds' trained horse for movie role

A horse was trained for one famous movie scene by being played sounds from slot machines, it has been revealed.

Norm Clarke wrote in his Las Vegas Review-Journal column that the white stallion used in Sydney Pollack's The Electric Horseman received extensive training for the "challenging" sequence set at Caesars Palace.

Mr Clarke quoted Pollack as saying: "Stallions are known to be high-strung so we spent months training him.

"We played a tape recording of slot machine sound for hours in his stall. He behaved better than the actors."

In the scene, a character played by Robert Redford rides the horse from a theatre stage out into the casino.

It was filmed in 1978, when Caesars Palace was in its second decade of operation and 27 years before it was bought by current owner Harrah's Entertainment.

Oscar-winner Pollack, who directed Tootsie among numerous other acclaimed films, passed away on Monday aged 73.